It was a bookstore, and he felt at home in bookstores, and he hadn’t had that feeling much lately.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1 paragraph 4)

Importance: When the novel begins, Quentin, dethroned and banished from Fillory, lives in the real world. As with most people, for Quentin, books can offer a way of escape. This has certainly been the case for Quentin, especially with the “Fillory and Further” novels, so it is clear why he loves bookstores. This quote also foreshadows the importance that books of various kinds will have in the novel.

Quentin watched it thrash along in the air, feeling a little sorry for it. He wondered where it was trying to get to. Back to the Neitherlands, probably. Back home.
-- Narrator (Chapter 4 paragraph 3)

Importance: Quentin, having stolen a page from a book from the Neithalands in his last adventure to save Fillory in the previous novel, studies the page. It is trying to escape him to get...